Miraculous Dwelling
by Cyber Rogue
Summary: Gabriel Agreste just wants to have a peaceful morning and forget about the disgraceful failure of Gigantitan. Unfortunately, Adrien seems interested in flaunting Hawk Moth's latest failure.


Gabriel Agreste really did not want to deal with the events of yesterday. The akuminization of Adrien's bodyguard had been a complete wreck. First off, the akuma did not even land on its intended target! Instead, it landed on something completely uncontrollable. How was he supposed to know that the akuma would land on a baby instead? Worse yet, the akuma had been a complete waste of his time and only served to make Hawk Moth look like a bigger fool.

The media apparently thought the same thing, if the newspapers were anything to go by. Some of the headlines were downright ludicrous: _Is Hawk Moth Fluttering about?: Victory is nigh for our heroes as Hawkmoth becomes desperate!: Is Creepy Hawk Moth Spying on Your Kids?; what you need to know to protect them!_

"Desperate," Gabriel grumbled as he entered the large dining room, his tablet tucked safely under his arm while he dropped the newspaper on the table with a loud 'smack'. "I am not desperate."

Adrien looked up from his breakfast in surprise as he watched his father take a seat across from him. It was very rare for Gabriel to dine with his son, and when he did, it was often in stiff silence. But Gabriel was willing to make an exception. His office was too quiet, and he needed something to escape from his recent humiliating plan.

Maybe Adrien could keep his mind off of all of that.

"Hawk Moth seems to be running out of ideas for his akuma victims," Adrien commented thoughtfully, glancing at his father as he pushed the newspaper away. This particular headline read: _Hawk Moth, a Baby Stealer._

Nope, his son was not helping at all.

Gabriel took a sip of his coffee, not even glancing at his son whom he was aware was eyeing him. "Hm, if you want to look at it that way," he stated.

Adrien shifted in his seat. "I mean, to have akumatized a baby just seems...petty. Don't you think?"

"Maybe he's just desperate," Gabriel said briskly. Good Lord, now he was sounding like one of those newspaper articles.

"But to target a baby?" Adrien demanded with a laugh. "That seemed to be poorly conceived. It's almost like he was waiting for literally anything to happen at this point. I mean, what does he do with his spare time when he's not akumetizing people? Sit around in his lair all day twiddling his thumbs?"

"I would imagine he has plenty of hobbies to keep him occupied while he waits for his next victim," Gabriel said with a terse reply. No, he did not 'twiddle his thumbs' as his son so eloquently put it. He had his sketch pad with him, thank you very much.

Although, maybe he should think about putting a flat screen TV in there. It might throw off the whole 'evil villian' look, but he was going to bore himself to death before he got those miraculouses. And it wasn't like anyone was going to see his lair in the first place and be put off by the lack of villainous flare.

"Plenty of babies have temper tantrums, so why did he decide to target one now?" Adrien continued. "This is like, his third attempt at targeting a child."

"Four," Gabriel said swiftly. "If you count those Césaire twins."

Adrien blinked. "You…"

"The Ladyblog is very insightful," Gabriel said quickly, mentally cursing himself for his little slip up.

Adrien's face stretched into a grin. "You read the Ladyblog?" he asked.

Gabriel reached for the newspaper he had so recently discarded. "Yes," he said, snapping the paper open and blocking his view of his son.

"You know," Adrien said thoughtfully, and Gabriel had to resist a sigh. Did Adrien not understand the silent cues he was sending him? He did not want to continue on this topic of conversation.

"I saw the akuma flying around before it landed on the baby," Adrien continued. "Honestly, it terrified me when I thought that...I could be the victim."

Gabriel chanced a peek at his son, noting the thoughtful, faroff expression Adrien wore.

Adrien shrugged. "But, there was no real damage done I guess."

"The Eiffel Tower was snapped in half," Gabriel could not help but point out. "I would hardly call that 'no damage'."

Adrien grinned. "Yeah, but Ladybug's cure worked, as always."

Gabriel noted with a small twinge of concern how his son's tone took on a dreamy sigh, and the faint blush that was crawling up his cheeks at the mention of Ladybug.

He cleared his throat, placing the newspaper down. "Yes, well, with Hawkmoth getting...desperate," yes, it felt like bitter poison to say that. "One has to wonder how long that will last."

Adrien waved a dismissive hand. "Eh, I wouldn't worry about that. He hasn't even come close to achieving their miraculouses."

Gabriel nearly sputtered. He most certainly had! Sure, they just slipped through his fingers with Dark Owl. Then there was the catastrophe with the robot when his own creation tried to kill him by turning his own security systems against him. He inwardly shuddered at the very memory. He was never recruiting artificial intelligence. Ever. It was true, they were trying to take over the world.

But he had come close to achieving the miraculouses! Whatever nonsense his son was spouting was just that. Nonsense.

"I honestly think Hawkmoth is losing his touch," Adrien continued.

"I honestly think that Ladybug and Cat Noir need to come up with better schemes in capturing the akuma," Gabriel retorted. It was one thing to have the entire city disregarding Hawk Moth, but to have his own son? That was a new low.

Granted, he probably shouldn't be expecting his son to sing praises of an all time super villain. But still, couldn't he give some respect to Hawkmoth? After all, there were plenty of famous villains with sons. Ever heard of Darth Vader?

Yeah, well, unlike Darth Vader, Gabriel had no intention of battling his own son for dominant control.

To his surprise, Adrien actually smiled. "Yeah, their plans do seem to get awfully complicated." He smirked at Gabriel. "Though I do think Cat Noir's use of the car to distract the giant baby was pretty clever."

A ghost of a smile graced Gabriel's lips as the memory played before him. The sounds of Adrien's delighted laughter as he played with his toy cars was a wondrous melody to his ears. "I remember how much you loved to play with your toy cars," he said softly. "You would race them down the halls." He chuckled. "The red truck was your favorite. You would try to imitate the sound of a fire truck as you crashed into the furniture." Another memory played before him; one where he was trying to teach Adrien how to form words. Yes, it was much like when that giant baby mispronounced Hawk Moth's name.

He still did not understand where two year old Adrien got the word "Babo," from. But the word had obviously pleased the child then and humored Emilie whenever Adrien would call at to Gabriel; his "Babo." Gabriel still chuckled at the memory of three year old Adrien rushing into the middle of Gabriel's important meeting, screaming for his "Babo." Some of his associates never let him live it down.

Adrien blinked, a look of surprise crossing his face at the mention of the red truck before he smiled. "Yeah, the halls were great for racing."

"They still are," Gabriel said, now smiling fully. He shook a finger at his son. "But don't use that as an excuse to race down the halls. This is a home, not a war zone."

Adrien smirked. "Sure seems that way."

Gabriel knew full well what that meant. His home had recently become invaded by many akuma attacks, therefore disrupting his peaceful, clean mansion. In all honesty, he really should stop amukitizing people who held a grudge against him and his son.

But seeing as the Fall Fashion Line was underway, he doubted that would happen. Ah, harvesting season for his lovely little akumas. Yes, Cat Noir and Ladybug will have their hands full soon enough.

Adrien leaned forward with a smile, his grin boarderlining that of a sly smirk. "This place may be getting visitors from angry fashion designers, right? Which means more visits from Ladybug."

Gabriel gave Adrien a bored look. "Are you suggesting that my business ethics offend people to the point that they become akumatized?"

Adrien shrugged. "I'm just saying, father, that you have a unique way with people."

Gabriel smirked. "I think you are late for school, son." He arose from his chair. "Best get going so that a teacher doesn't become akumatized on behalf of your tardiness."

"Eh," Adrien said as he scrambled out of his chair and grabbed his school bag. "It'll give Hawk Moth something to do instead of twiddling his thumbs in a dark, stinky lair."

Oh, that was it. He was installing a flat screen TV. And a vending machine.

He watched Adrien leave, the house once more feeling a bit too heavy with silence. With barely a reserved sigh, he walked past his assistant.

"I do think he is right, sir," Natalie said as she handed him his files. "You do have a way with people."

Gabriel huffed as he walked past her, already making plans to akumatize one of his fashion designers. Or maybe that blond model. She had been getting on his nerves quite a bit. Well, whatever happened, anyone of his next victims ought to be a step up from Gigantitan.


End file.
